ARU rule Folau unfit to face force

[UNCLE BOOG]

Izzy in or Izzy out?

The Australian Rugby Union has sensationally withdrawn Israel Folau from the New South Wales line-up to play Western Force on Saturday night, less than 36 hours after the Waratahs had deemed the full-back fit to play.

In a highly unusual move, the ARU received their own advice on the gifted number 15 who had sustained a throat injury against the Melbourne Rebels in a Super Rugby match on March 21.

While he travelled to South Africa for the second match of their two-fixture tour, he was ruled unfit to play in the clash with the Stormers last weekend.

On Thursday he was named in the Waratahs' side by coach Michael Cheika.

But the ARU stepped in on the eve of the Australian derby, chief medical officer Dr Warren McDonald making his decision based on specialist medical advice.

"Advice from our medical specialists is that Israel's throat injury hasn't healed to the point where it's in his best interests to return to play tomorrow night," Dr McDonald said in a statement from the ARU.

"This is a player welfare issue, which has been the focus of all medical staff involved in this difficult decision, and we'll continue to work on the plan for his return as soon as possible."

The call by the ARU to overrule a state decision on player fitness is thought to be unprecedented in Super Rugby.

Folau offered a one-word tweet on Friday night: "Frustrated".

AAP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-1...?section=sport

[The InnFORCEr]

Well the ARU basically pay for him so they should have control of his welfare. I had feeling there was more to it than a sore throat. I if Cheik and the Tahs don't like it, don't ask the ARU to bail you out every other year and stick to the salary cap

[The EnForcer]

Viewing it from a neutral stance it doesn't look good. Surprisingly Drew Mitchel summed it up very nicely in a tweet, “If the Wallabies were playing the All Blacks would Folau be rested?”

ARU are not sending a very good message with this action, however you care to read it.

[Tonkar]

read this

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news...412-36jt1.html

[Happy]

the planets might have aligned

[jono]

So this shows that either the Tah's medical staff are incompetent. Or that the ARU has no faith in their skills. Either way this is dangerous

[Darren]

Not surprising, the team doctor is a chick - what would she know? She shouldn't be there anyway ...

[shasta]

TIF is on the money. He's the ARU's player and they don't want their investment jeopardised.
I'm just pissed off he's not gonna be on the park. The only positive is that the Tah-ophiles on Fox will be blowing a gasket.

[brokendown gunfighter]

need more burley Darren

[jono]

Just gotta be patient when fishing gunny

[sandgroperrugby]

Jayden is out for us as well. Bugger

[jono]

Orly? Why?

[RugbyRef]

How good was that!! Sea of Blue sounded amazing.

[Sheikh]

Good stuff from Marcel - not got the same go-forward as Junior, but then Junior was no great shakes in his first match. Good to see DHP getting the run-out, too, and didn't look out of place.

But how good was that result?

Also, I know I shouldn't talk about the refs, but how do we get a Sydney man who was stood down for two weeks for poor performances, as the ref for Force vs Tahs?

[WF1964]

Orly? Why?

Wife having a baby maybe??